But the weird shrill tone of those writers sounds like an authorial control-freak losing it.
I don't actually bother when authors (or anyone, really) goes into control-freak mode. We all have our hot buttons, after all. But I have found it rather intriguing, at times, to see authors in control-freak mode reciting defenses remarkably similar to the defenses I've seen in other venues where someone is rejecting having their privilege checked. I mean, I would think that the tone/approach of the author (in this case) would be... different. Yet it sounds so very similar to the, say, homophobic guy doing his best to insist he's not homophobic, and that it's the people accusing him that are in the wrong. It's just something in the way things are expressed.
As for Hollywood: it's kind of like the flip-side of fanfiction. Where Hollywood makes everything mainstream -- it whitens your characters! it straightens your characters! it even moves them to the suburbs! -- fanfiction seems more likely to do the opposite. Except for that whole "everyone's in high school thing". I'm not sure if that trope is subversive, or just plain disturbing. I guess if you've got non-mainstream characters, then Hollywood is your worst nightmare, while if you've got mainstream characters, then fanfiction is your worst nightmare.
I like seeing other people's interpretations of characters.
I think the only time I ever felt my blood curdle over fanfiction was when my own S.O. wrote fanfiction. About my (original) characters. And slashed them. I wasn't sure whether to sit back in shock, or give him a cookie for showing such style. I settled for pretending to cry, and then demanding sushi for proper recovery. He promised to slash all my characters for the rest of our life together, if it gets him sushi. It's an open question whether my plan backfired or worked really, really well.
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Date: 23 Feb 2011 05:13 am (UTC)I don't actually bother when authors (or anyone, really) goes into control-freak mode. We all have our hot buttons, after all. But I have found it rather intriguing, at times, to see authors in control-freak mode reciting defenses remarkably similar to the defenses I've seen in other venues where someone is rejecting having their privilege checked. I mean, I would think that the tone/approach of the author (in this case) would be... different. Yet it sounds so very similar to the, say, homophobic guy doing his best to insist he's not homophobic, and that it's the people accusing him that are in the wrong. It's just something in the way things are expressed.
As for Hollywood: it's kind of like the flip-side of fanfiction. Where Hollywood makes everything mainstream -- it whitens your characters! it straightens your characters! it even moves them to the suburbs! -- fanfiction seems more likely to do the opposite. Except for that whole "everyone's in high school thing". I'm not sure if that trope is subversive, or just plain disturbing. I guess if you've got non-mainstream characters, then Hollywood is your worst nightmare, while if you've got mainstream characters, then fanfiction is your worst nightmare.
I like seeing other people's interpretations of characters.
I think the only time I ever felt my blood curdle over fanfiction was when my own S.O. wrote fanfiction. About my (original) characters. And slashed them. I wasn't sure whether to sit back in shock, or give him a cookie for showing such style. I settled for pretending to cry, and then demanding sushi for proper recovery. He promised to slash all my characters for the rest of our life together, if it gets him sushi. It's an open question whether my plan backfired or worked really, really well.